Learn the skills and knowledge required to include virtual production in the VFX quality monitoring area of work. These tasks are divided into two main functions: planning quality outputs and realising quality outputs.
These complement the wider competencies required within each of these functions to undertake more traditional VFX projects, which are detailed in the full National Occupational Standards.
Download a PDF version of these competencies.
Planning quality outputs
1. Provide creative and strategic direction for creative industry projects
- Identify and specify relevant design, technical and commercial parameters
- Devise solutions to meet requirements within relevant design parameters
- Liaise with strategic, creative, technical, project management and management staff to ensure the requirements are understood and can be effectively implemented
- The needs and expectations placed on the design and production staff while working on the VP project
- The different technologies, platforms, online services, tools, formats, and creative or technical approaches that are available, and their advantages, disadvantages and implications
2. Capture data for use in visual effects
- Identify live and post-production data that needs to be collected
- Liaise and collaborate with other departments to ensure the data they are responsible for is being recorded correctly and accurately
- Record information relating to how the production and post production data was captured
- The implications for VFX work of data not being accurately and correctly recorded in real-time
- The type of data that is recorded by other departments and how it links to live data that is captured on set
- The physical and virtual data needed for modelling, texturing, environment, look development, lighting, matchmoving and matte painting
- What information needs to be recorded to support the data captured and why it is important
Realising quality outputs
1. Ensure the quality of virtual production outputs
- Identify how the use of VP will impact on the artistic and technical expectations and requirements of the work
- Ensure quality control processes are in place prior to shooting and are understood by those who need to use them
- Assess quality throughout the shooting at appropriate times to enable work to progress to schedule and desired quality
- Identify work that is not of the required quality and put collaborative measures in place to rectify it
- Work more collaboratively and iteratively with other departments across all phases of the production to achieve high quality results
- Apply quality assurance processes and procedures, which may involve company or production-specific pipelines for VP, using bespoke tools, tests and exercises.
- Apply a mindset of continuous improvement
- Where each contributing element of the QA process sits in the overall process and how they are linked and dependent on each other
- The importance of reviewing quality according to production schedules
- How to recognise what is wrong with quality and dynamically assess and rectify it to expected artistic and technical standards
- How to assess quality and artistic results of animation, rendering, lighting and compositingrticularly the ‘artistic’ results as obviously they will have a real-world application as well as a digital application
- Who needs to be involved with assessing or evaluating quality when working with VP
2. Agree requirements and parameters of design activity for virtual production projects
- Confirm and analyse information on requirements and parameters, including any special requirements, factors and opportunities which will impact upon the nature and function of the creative outputs
- Clarify and confirm vague, ambiguous or missing information on requirements and parameters
- Determine requirements for continuity
- Clarify and confirm visual style and intended impact with appropriate decision makers
- Identify desired characteristics from relevant information and specifications
- Obtain specialist advice when specific problems are identified which are beyond own expertise
- Identify and assess previous other applications of the technology and how might be useful for VP to develop a philosophy and specification which meets the needs of the project
- Ensure that the realisation of work is within the cost and time constraints of the project
- Acknowledge and confirm any changes requested by decision makers clearly and incorporate them into specifications of requirements
- When appropriate, identify further opportunities to use creative outputs in order to enhance creative and commercial success
- The objectives for the creative output and the artistic intentions which it is required to support
- How to access, analyse and interpret the creative brief and relevant information
- Who the decision makers are and how to clarify requirements, visual style and parameters with them
- How to adapt requirements in the light of changes required by decision makers, and what action to take when request for change cannot be met
- How factors and opportunities vary to suit different productions
- How to identify the impact of production requirements, parameters and plans on the development of creative outputs
- Sources of information on existing creative outputs and technical solutions
- Capabilities and limitations of available and projected technology
- How to evaluate existing creative outputs and technical solutions and potential conceptual solutions for relevance
3. Further considerations about delivering editing projects to brief
Skills and knowledge related to virtual production
Work is underway on integrating virtual production to existing post production practices, however it is too soon to define any specific related skills/competencies as these techniques are still in an early stage of development.
Explore the competencies:
Visual effects (VFX) competencies for virtual production - production
Visual effects (VFX) competencies for virtual production - creation